whiteowl Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 Which recent survey? The data was based on 29,000 users of a brand of educational software. They're hardly likely to say everything is fantastic and shoot their sales department in the foot are they ? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnvqsos Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 The education system has been **** for years, and the teaching unions are entirely to blame, they block any attempt at reform. Why do you think we have such a high level of youth unemployment? For the same reason as was the case in the 1930s-you must remember how teenagers struggled to get work despite the excellent education system during the depression.I don't think unions can legally block reforms as the teachers would be in breach of contract.They certainly did not block academies,technology colleges,city learning centres and other similar reforms.what reforms do you mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna B Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 There have always been a significant number of people leaving school who find reading and writing difficult. My Dad says he met quite a few in the war. Difference was they would always be able to find work in factories etc, so it went unremarked. Also, everyone has to take exams now, whereas a much smaller proportion of the population took any exams at all in the past. And now it is far more important to be able to read and write at a much higher standard to meet the needs of the modern 'information' society. It starts very early. Trouble is many kids today expect everything to be easy and fun. Give them anything they find hard and they lose interest immeadiately. It takes a lot of practise to read well, but some kids just can't be bothered to do it. Add to that lack of encouragement at home, loads of distractions like TV and gaming etc, and you can see why some kids never get the reading bug. If they haven't mastered it to a reasonable standard by the time they are 11, they rarely catch up. They also often become the problem kids in school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ms Macbeth Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 I lay the blame for the decline in education standards on what happened to our schools during the Thatcher era, from which they have never fully recovered. The same can be said of so many things. I'd beg to differ, standards were in decline before she came to power. My children started school (in South Yorkshire) in the early/mid 70s and the style of teaching at their first primary school tended towards allowing the children to learn if and what they wanted. We soon moved to a catchment area for a school that had a more traditional approach. And, I pretty much agree with Fox20thc in an earlier post. If books and reading aren't part of a child's life before the start of school, then the child is disadvantaged from the start. Books don't have to cost money, my small grandchildren all have library cards. I'm pleased that my oldest grandchild, who's five, and in her second year at school has spelling lessons! I'm of a generation who almost all learnt to spell properly. We had a test most days, and its stood me in good stead in my various jobs. It helps with crosswords too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna B Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 I'd beg to differ, standards were in decline before she came to power. My children started school (in South Yorkshire) in the early/mid 70s and the style of teaching at their first primary school tended towards allowing the children to learn if and what they wanted. We soon moved to a catchment area for a school that had a more traditional approach. And, I pretty much agree with Fox20thc in an earlier post. If books and reading aren't part of a child's life before the start of school, then the child is disadvantaged from the start. Books don't have to cost money, my small grandchildren all have library cards. I'm pleased that my oldest grandchild, who's five, and in her second year at school has spelling lessons! I'm of a generation who almost all learnt to spell properly. We had a test most days, and its stood me in good stead in my various jobs. It helps with crosswords too. Hear Hear! (or should that be Here here...?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anywebsite Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 Based on users of educational software that helps to teach children to read. Which children are going to need to use that? The ones that are behind with their reading. It's not a representative sample. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikem8634 Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 Unfortunately you can't just blame the education system. Many children are offered extra support in schools for reading, writing and mathematics, mostly all of them turn this offer down. Parents aren't happy for their children to give up any of their 1 hour lunch in order to receive extra support or attend after school. It isn't possible with a 1 hour lesson to cover what needs to be done in the lesson and give them extra support so what else can schools do? Don't forget also that most of the children who have 'readers' and 'scribes' have some kind of special need. Should a child who has a great understanding but can't get that onto paper due to severe dyslexia be pushed away from an exam because he can't write it down? Excellent point - that makes me feel better. For a moment I worryingly thought there was a much larger percentage of young people than usual slipping through the literacy cracks. Of course the learning disadvantaged should be supported with readers and scribes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laineyiow Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 What I have also noticed is that a number of young people tend to write words as they say them - example: ov or of for have; been for being; your for you're etc. If a person can't speak properly then they are I believe also going to have difficulty in spelling the word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vague_Boy Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 I was pretty shocked to hear that reading standards are so poor in UK. Me too, especially with exam results always getting so much better. Year after year after year... It's almost as if exam marking standards were surreptitiously being allowed to slip, year by year, in order to make the education system look like it's achieving some measurable improvement for no extra money or effort. But of course, that would be nonsense. So my dream of a retirement surrounded by a generation of Joe 90 and Wesley Crusher style super intellects looks like remaining just that, a dream. The 2006 film Idiocracy looks to be a more accurate representation of the future of the UK. I don't wish to be patronising (that means talking down to people BTW) to those who have passed though the education system in recent years but I fear you have been sold a pup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happ Hazzard Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 I think the government needs to break the teaching unions and take the education system in hand to bring it up to speed. We used to have the greatest education system in the world till the liberals got hold of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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